Republicans hold seats in House special elections

By
Rosalind S. Helderman

Republicans easily won two special elections for the Virginia House of Delegates today, as voters in Chesterfield elected local optometrist Roxanne Robinson and voters in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County elected former local chamber president Tony Wilt.

Both districts had been considered safe for the Republicans. Robinson and Wilt replace Republicans Matt Lohr and Sam Nixon, who vacated their seats to take jobs in Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration.

Still, Democrats had attempted to contest the Harrisonburg seat throwing party money and organization behind Mayor Kai Degner. Degner did win Harrisonburg, but only by 50 votes. Meanwhile, Wilt swamped Degner in the district's 15 Rockingham precincts. With all precincts reporting, Wilt defeated Degner with 66 percent of the vote.

In Chesterfield, with all precincts reporting, Robinson has beaten planning commission chairman William Brown with 72 percent of the vote.